Spring has finally arrived in Central New York. Today was the first of what is supposed to be 4 beautiful days in a row. So it was time to drive out to one of my favorite places in the world for the first time this year.

The Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and the adjacent state owned Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area are designated by the Audubon Society as a Globally Important Bird Area.

Today was time for a bit of soul recharging. It was still cold and windy, but at least the sun came out. So it was time for a walk through the bog at Beaver Lake Nature Center.

First stop is always feeder set up at the visitor center. Three species of woodpecker, nuthatch, titmice, chickadees, cardinals, American Goldfinch, even a Pine Siskin. Unfortunately I left the Bigma (Sigma 150-500) at home and only had my 18-135.

While I really have to get out of the house before I go insane, the backyard has been quite busy the last few days.

Greetings Earthlings; I come in peace.
I've been meaning to post a promised photo essay for quite awhile but master procrastinator that I am here it is April already and I haven't posted so much as a thumbnail for several months. But thanks in part to Boriscleto's beautiful bird pic essay I was inspired to finally put something together tonight. I introduced myself here with a similar photo essay a few months back but for the new members here who don't know me, I'm here because I followed some of my favorite people over here from DK last year. Those of you that followed Backyard Science may remember that a few years ago I posted nature related diaries pretty regularly. Although I continued to read BYS and the Daily Buckets I pretty much stopped writing a couple of years ago. I haven't written much here either, leaving that to the better informed and sharper minds of the more talented writers here. I'm an ace reader though!

We don't have a Daily Bucket or Dawn Chorus here (the only reason I visit TOP), so I'll just make a short post on this snowy April morning in Upstate NY.

This evening's music features Chicago house rocker Hound Dog Taylor.

As many of you already know, I enjoy watching birds come to my bird feeders. I maintain two hanging seed feeders, two pole feeders, and one hummingbird feeder. My two hanging feeders are suspended from the eaves of my house. To fill them, I must lower them to the ground via the lines that suspend them. Generally, these feeders are relatively secure from the squirrels. For a squirrel to raid either of them, it must make a major leap from a nearby tree.